This is a much more open-ended campaign than either renewable energy purchasing or green building design. How can you get people at your school to reduce the impact of their transportation choices? There are many different approaches, and the best way will differ for each campus. Below we present an overview to get you started, but we have certainly not thought of everything! Contact our Conservation Committee or any of our staff for advice on how to get started.

Green vehicle fleets

Here is the link to Energy Action's sample policy proposal for a transportation campaign. It's a good guide on where to start. You can ask you College to purchase hybrid vehicles, runs its vehicles on biodeisel, simply upgrade vehicles to those that get better gas milage on standard fuel. There are plenty of improvements you school can make on its vehicles, but don't be afraid to ask for something ambitious. You can always scale back you ask later, but remember: if you don't ask for it you won't get it.

Reduce commuter traffic

In order to reduce the car traffic from faculty and staff commuting to your university, some incentive must be provided for carpooling or using mass transit. Less popular (and therefore more difficult) measures include: limiting parking spaces or increasing parking fees. Banning freshman and/or sophomore parking is also an option. Incentive programs include:

• Many communities have “Ride Share” programs, which help people find others to carpool with on their daily commute. For examples, see rideshare.511.org or rideshareonline.com. Look online to see if there is one for your town. This program makes it easier for people to find carpools. In addition, some rideshare programs have “emergency ride home” programs so that people can get a free cab ride home in the event of a family emergency. If the rideshare program in your area does not have this feature, encourage your university to step in and offer that option to employees. Many people are reluctant to carpool because they feel that they have no option if their child suddenly becomes sick or they suddenly need to leave work for some other reason.
• You could also work with your university to subsidize the cost of public transportation for employees, or to provide other incentives for employees to take public transportation to work.
• Publicize public transportation options for students seeking to get off campus on weekends.
• For an example of a fantastic, comprehensive plan to reduce vehicle traffic at the University of British Columbia, see trek.ubc.ca

One great example of an intergrated transportation campaign was at Louisiana State University. The SSC's Environmental Conservation Organization (ECO) at LSU had to keep the pressure on their administration in order to see their "Easy Streets" victory implemented. The proposal was to close off the nine major roads into the campus and establish new bus routes to increase transportation efficiency and decrease carbon pollution from automobiles. Through awareness events the ECO students made sure that the school followed through with their commitment to close the main roads on campus to regular traffic. Gates were installed and the campaign was a success!

Encouraging biking

Make your campus more bike-friendly for students, faculty, and staff. Work to ensure that there are enough bike racks (especially in covered areas so bikes don’t get rusty), encourage the university to provide free bike locks, and work to reduce safety hazards (such as busy intersections).